Sexual Assault : The Effects On Trauma

When in danger, it’s natural to feel afraid. This fear triggers many split-second changes in the body to prepare to defend against the danger or to avoid it. This “fight-or-flight” response is a healthy reaction meant to protect a person from harm. But in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), this reaction is changed or damaged. People who have PTSD may feel stressed or frightened even when they’re no longer in danger.

The New England Journal of Medicine States: “The defining characteristic of a traumatic event is its capacity to provoke fear, helplessness, or death. People who are exposed to such events are at increased risk for PTSD as well as for major depression, panic disorder, including generalized anxiety disorder.”

According to statics, 29% of teenagers from 12 to 17 years old have experienced either rape or sexual assault and 44% of all rapes and sexual assaults affected those under 18 years old. “The highest risks are from the years 12 to 34.” (Source 2) 14 years old is the overall greatest risk for a female to experience this issue. As you may realize, teenagers are most likely to be affected than any other age group. This issue affects our world today by a progressive amount of people taking advantage of each other. This issue also shows that women are not respected by fellow men. This a controversy that has existed since the beginning of time. The possible long term effects of rape and sexual assault are depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, pregnancy, and contemplated suicide. There are two other effects that happen to be experienced by the most, they are alcohol abuse and drug abuse. Coincidentally, these effects are what usually cause rapes and sexual

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric sequel to a stressful event or situation of an exceptionally threatening or catastrophic nature. It develops after a person is involved in a horrifying ordeal that involved physical maltreatment or the threat of physical harm. These events can include combat or military experience, abuse during childhood or adulthood (physical or sexual), terrorist attacks, serious accidents or natural disasters. This person may have been the one that was harmed, witnessed a harmful event or had a loved one who was harmed. It is normal for the body’s fight or flight mechanism to engage in times of danger. With a person who has PTSD, that mechanism is damaged and the person feels this even when they are not in danger. Symptoms can be categorized into four different areas – re-experiencing symptoms (flashbacks, bad dreams, frightening thoughts) , avoiding situations that remind the person of the event, negative changes in beliefs and feelings (may be fear, guilt, shame or losing interest in those activities that once were enjoyable) and hypervigilence (always feeling keyed up, trouble concentrating or sleeping). There are also feelings of hopelessness, despair, depression or anxiety, alcohol or substance abuse, physical symptoms or chronic pain and problems with employment and relationships.

The long term psychological effects associated with sexual assault includes, depression, substance use, anxiety, PTSD, and decreased self esteem (Foa & Riggs, 1993; Resick, 1993). The authors of this article supports current literature which proposes that African American children receives inadequate or inappropriate sexuality socialization and sexual abuse prevention in their cultures and families which may affect their disclosure of sexual assault in adulthood (Washington, 2001;Wyatt, 1992).

Traumatic events also produce profound and lasting changes in physiological arousal, emotion, cognition, and memory. Moreover, traumatic events may result in the severance of these normally integrated functions from one another. Traumatized individuals may also suffer from the memories of the tragic or horrifying experiences they have undergone. Frequently, as a result of these many symptoms, it becomes inevitable for the individual to develop certain complications associated with trauma-related disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder.

Victims of sexual violence is the first population we will discuss. “On average, there are 321,500 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year in the United States” (Rain.org, “Victims of Sexual Violence: Statistics,” 2016, para. 1). Criminal justice professionals will encounter rape victims and sexual assault victims. Police officers have the duty of charging and arresting the perpetrator and getting the persons assaulted to safety. Victims of rape and sexual assault have to

This information is sent to the amygdala, which gets fired up and starts sending out "fight or flight" responses to other parts of the brain. However, the vmPFC, being involved in "higher thinking", has a quiet word with the amygdala, saying "look, the tiger is in a cage, you know what a cage is, tigers can't escape from cages, it's OK, calm down". Another part of the brain, the hippocampus, helps out, providing information about the context of the event (we're at a zoo, we know what zoo's look like, we've seen them before). In summary, the vmPFC inhibits the amygdala to keep fearful responses in check.What these studies don't tell us tho', is how this imbalance comes about; does having reduced vmPFC function lead to PTSD, or does having PTSD shut down the vmPFC? To address these issues would require shutting down or damaging the vmPFC and looking for the development of PTSD, obviously not an experiment that can or should be performed with people. However, Michael Koenigs, Jordan Grafman and colleagues at the NIH came up with a very elegant way of answering these questions.Grafman is one of

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event (National Institute of Mental Health [NIH], 2016). It is said that the psychic trauma that an individual suffers after the shocking experience causes the inner agency of the mind to lose its ability to control the disorganizing effects of the experience, and disequilibrium occurs. Many traumatic events can cause PTSD, like combat exposure, child sexual abuse or physical abuse, terrorist attacks, sexual or physical assault, serious accidents, or natural disasters. However, not everyone that suffers a traumatic event may develop PTSD. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (2016), it is not yet clear why some people develop PTSD and others do not. Many factors influence on whether or not an individual will develop the disorder, such as: how intense the trauma was or how long it lasted. Whether or not the individual was injured or lost someone important to them. How close the individual was to the event. How strong their reaction was. How much the person felt in control of the events, or how much help and support the person received after the event (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2016). PTSD is not exclusive to adults only, children can also have the disorder.

These traumatic events overwhelm the mind and the affected is unable to process information and feeling. The individual experiencing PTSD goes through feels and thoughts during their traumatic event that interrupts the mind and causes distress. PTSD is not only related to combat; as shell shock was, but also can occur from a rape, witnessing a murder, combat, and a disaster. A person can also develop post-traumatic stress disorder from seeing or learning about an event, which can cause death or even injury. The person dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder goes through a chemical imbalance that affects their mood and anxiety. These imbalances cause the infected to go through different levels of mental behavior, from avoidance, flashbacks, dreams of the traumatic event, angry outbursts or aggressive behavior and trouble

Studies done by David Finkelhor, Director of the Crime Against Children Research Center, show that about one in five girls and about one in twenty boys are victims of child sexual abuse. Over the course of their lifetime, 28% of U.S. youth’s aged 14 to 17 have been sexually victimized. According to the 2003 National institute of Justice report three out of four adolescent children have been sexually violated by someone they knew very well (Child Abuse Statistics , 2012). The figure below represents children’s exposure to violence in 2011 by the child’s age. The graph shows that children from the ages fourteen to seventeen were sexually victimized the most while children aged zero to one were least exposed sexually (Childrens Exposure to Violence , 2013).

Individuals can develop emotional, psychological and physical distress and injuries that result from experiencing a traumatic event. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can afflict individuals that have undergone severe traumatic stressors. PTSD is a disorder in which the memory of the traumatic event comes to dominate the victims’ consciousness, diminishing their lives of true meaning and pleasure (Van der Kolk, 2000). Trauma not only impacts an individual’s mind, but it can also significantly modify the way the brain processes future information (Swenson, 2012). For those with PTSD do not have a clear memory of the traumatic event they experienced. The traumatic memories lack the ability to recall the traumatic memory verbally. These memoirs can be displayed in flash back, bodily sensations, feelings, behaviors, and physiological reactions. PTSD symptoms include instructive recollections, avoidance of reminders or triggers, and a higher level of being in an aroused state.

Sexual assault is quite common and one of the most underreported crimes in the world. L. N. Flair, D. L. Franko, and D. B. Herzog (2008) define sexual assault as “an unwanted sexual encounter experienced by women from adolescence onward” (p. 249). It has been discovered that around twelve to thirteen percent of females in the United States have experienced sexual assault (Briere & Scott, 2015). Although sexual assault may be brief and only occur once, it can impact the victim for many years afterward. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is frequently seen in victims of sexual assault. Other short- and long-term mental and physical health issues seen in victims of sexual assault are depression, substance

This literature review provides a brief overview of six scholarly articles and other facts about sexual assault .This review will first define sexual assault as it is defined in these articles. It will analyze the strengths and limitations of the definition used and will discuss the occurrence of sexual assault in the general population.This review will also illustrate the protective factors, barriers to recovery , impact of development and the specific sexual assault population that are absent in these articles. Sexual assault is a societal issue that impacts men and women at every age in their life, it’s much more highly reported among college aged women. The majority of women who are victims of rape are

On May 10, 1998 a 13 year old named Lindsie was drugged and raped in her best friends store (Tracy). Imagine being a young 13 year old naive and unaware of real life situations, and being taken advantage of like Lindsie. Feeling abused, alone and vulnerable. It’s sad to say that incidents like this happen all the time around the world. Sexual violence is one of the most emotionally and physically damaging crimes committed specifically rape. About 86,000 cases of rape are reported annually in the U.S alone (Seth)! On of the most frequently committed acts of sexual violence is rape. Damaging effects of rape can be life long. Whether or not these effects are visible to the physical eye, they can alter and deeply impact a person 's